The Man in the Mirror

Hey Everyone! I can’t believe how long it has been since my last post! I will try to be better about that, but for the most part, my life is pretty much the same every day. That being said, I had quite the adventure this past week. Last Thursday I left my site and traveled across the country to the city Ouarzazate. I took a souk bus, which was a new experience for me. A souk bus is a bus that goes across the country, but stops at every and any little town along the way. The bus itself was really old and stuffy. Moroccans have this thing about not opening windows when it’s hot outside. Babies, beggars, animals, and just about anything is allowed on a souk bus. I had a guy try to sell me a watch.

On the way to Ouarzazate I realized half way there that there was another white person sitting on the bus. I stared at her trying to figure out where she was from. Most tourists here are European, but she looked different. The hooded sweatshirt is usually a giveaway that the person is American. And since there are practically no American tourists here, I usually assume the American is a Peace Corps volunteer. So, I asked her, and sure enough, she was a PCV and on her way to the same training session I was going to! So we chatted a little bit and before we knew it we had arrived in Ouarzazate.

If you have ever seen the movie Babel, then you know what Ouarzazate looks like because it was filmed there. Brad Pitt actually went to a volunteer’s site near Oz while he was filming and asked a hotel owner if the PCV was in town, but she had left her site for some reason and she missed him! The PCV that lives there now says she will be sure not to ever leave her site in case Brad Pitt ever shows up again!

When I got to Oz, I met up with Elly, another YD volunteer and she showed me around the city. Then we went back to her house and talked forever. The next morning (My birthday!) I went with her to her English class and then met up with Whitney, yet another YD volunteer, and the two of us went back to Oz while Elly ate couscous with one of her students. We sat at a café and talked and waited for Elly to join us. After a while, two SBD volunteers met up with us and the five of us took a taxi to the training site.

The training I completed is through the PC Volunteer Support Network. Basically, I am a counselor for other volunteers. I learned how to listen with a trained ear. If ever a volunteer has a problem, they can call me up and talk about it. It was a great training session and we had a fun group of people. When we weren’t training, we would go on walks through the palmery (it was a beautiful site) or lounge around reading magazines, talking, or watching DVDs. It was great to be around Americans. The host was an amazing cook and all our meals were incredible.

When we arrived at the training site, I had a little surprise! The girls had baked me a cake and we celebrated my birthday! It was really yummy, too. I feel really good about turning 24. I like to think that this year is going to be my best year. I just have so many adventures ahead of me that I am looking forward to experiencing!

The night after my birthday we experienced a lunar eclipse! It happened around 10-11 at night, so I doubt it was visible in America at that time. I heard that Africa has a better positioning for seeing a lunar eclipse, but I’m not sure why. Anyway, the eclipse was amazing. We all sat up on the roof and waited around for it to happen, singing songs and just watching the stars. We are PCVs, so it takes very little to amuse us! During the eclipse, I was amazed by how many more stars that became visible in the absence of the moon’s light. I could see stars right next to the moon that I had never seen before. And we saw so many shooting stars! It really was beautiful.

When we finished training, we piled back into a taxi to head back to Oz. The road was just beautiful, winding through the mountains, but I got so sick on the way there! I had to ride with my head in between my legs and I had a few close calls, but I made it safely without any incidents. The rest of the day, I felt pretty nauseous and had a few other close calls throughout the day. I spend the night at Elly’s and yesterday morning hopped on a returning souk bus. This time, I got a window seat, which was both a bonus and a problem. I could see the scenery better (and it is a beautiful road) but I had the sun to deal with. It was so incredibly hot! I don’t know how I am going to handle the summer. I really am dreading it. Everyone tells me that it slowly creeps up on you, so once it gets to 130 degrees it doesn’t feel any different than 100. We’ll see about that theory.